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Influence: Science and Practiceis an examination of the psychology of compliance (i.e. uncovering which factors cause a person to say “yes” to another's request).

Written in a narrative style combined with scholarly research, Cialdini combines evidence from experimental work with the techniques and strategies he gathered while working as a salesperson, fundraiser, advertiser, and in other positions inside organizations that commonly use compliance tactics to get us to say “yes.” Widely used in classes, as well as sold to people operating successfully in the business world, the eagerly awaited revision of Influence reminds the reader of the power of persuasion.

Cialdini organizes compliance techniques into six categories based on psychological principles that direct human behavior: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.

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Review

Here's what people are saying about the material in INFLUENCE: Science and Practice:

“This marvelous book explains in clear, practical language the ways in which we become persuaded. It offers excellent insights for those who sell, but even more importantly for all of us who negotiate and buy.” ―ROGER FISHER, Director, Harvard Negotiation Project, Co-author of “Getting to Yes.”

“For marketers, it is among the most important books written in the last 10 years.” ―JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH

“The best sales tip I ever got was encouragement to read INFLUENCE by Dr. Robert Cialdini. It was so profound and insightful, I read it three times in a row.” ―GREG RENKER, President, Guthy-Renker

“It would be marvelous reading for students taking Social Psychology.” ―DAVID MYERS, Hope College

“The book is tremendously entertaining and very popular with students. It makes excellent reading for a Consumer Behavior or Advertising class.” ―ALAN J. RESNIK, Portland State University

“INFLUENCE should be required reading for all business majors.” ―JOURNAL OF RETAILING

Synopsis

Influence: Science and Practice is an examination of the psychology of compliance (i.e. uncovering which factors cause a person to say "yes" to another's request) and is written in a narrative style combined with scholarly research. Cialdini combines evidence from experimental work with the techniques and strategies he gathered while working as a salesperson, fundraiser, advertiser, and other positions, inside organizations that commonly use compliance tactics to get us to say "yes." Widely used in graduate and undergraduate psychology and management classes, as well as sold to people operating successfully in the business world, the eagerly awaited revision of Influence reminds the reader of the power of persuasion. Cialdini organizes compliance techniques into six categories based on psychological principles that direct human behavior: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity. New Reader's Reports are included in the Fourth Edition and illustrate how readers have used one of the principles or have had a principle of influence used on them.

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The book is 'okay'. The six areas the author identifies are interesting but there are two major issues with the book for me. Firstly, it is a bit rambling, you could have easily got all the principles and had a discussion around it in 100 pages. The second issue is that it is very American, so a lot of the examples talk about particular aspects of being in in American college and high school, baseball, that type of thing. I watch a lot of American programs but even with this it just made no sense at all. In this regard the book has failed to persuade me as to its merits (which is what the book is supposed to be an expert illustration).

A phenomenal book that provides example after example of how human beings are continuously duped into making automatic decisions without thinking them through, resulting in an invaluable series of lessons to be learned about self awareness.

Robert is a brilliant writer who well earns his accolade as the 'seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion' as he sets out how the five psychological principles of consistency, reciprocation, social proof, liking and scarcity direct human behaviour to give these tactics their power.

The ability for each of these principles to produce a distinct kind of automatic, mindless compliance from people to willingly say 'yes' without giving it a second thought is explained. Quite astounding and entertaining at the same time - a real eye opener and highly recommended for anyone who wants to take control over their decision making and indeed, understand how to achieve buy-in from others to do what they want them to do.

I first read this book in March 2012 and read it again this year as part of my research for my new blog.

What really caught my eye, the second time round, is the last chapter on Authority - How To Say No. This in view of the fact that it is now common knowledge that too many 'Social Media Consultants' who claim to be 'experts' are actually nothing of the kind.

Robert writes: 'We particularly mis-perceive the profound impact of authority (and its symbols)on our actions, we are at the disadvantage of being insufficiently cautious about its presence in compliance situations. A fundamental form of defence against this problem. When this awareness is coupled with a recognition of how easily authority symbols can be faked, the benefit will be a properly guarded approach to situations involving authority-influence attempts.'

He goes on to say that the best way to protect ourselves is to ask two questions: 1) Is this authority truly an expert? (to focus our attention on acquiring evidence of credentials and the relevance of those credentials to the topic in hand thus avoiding automatic deference), and 2) How truthful can we expect the expert to be here? (To focus on their trustworthiness in the situation as we seem to be swayed more by experts who seem to be impartial than by those who have something to gain by convincing us).

The book took a lot of effort to get through. Much of it applies more to American marketing psychology which is very different from that of the UK. I had to skimp through bits that got me bogged-down in topics that were a. not relevant to my interest or b. over-stating the point or topic being covered, indicating to me that it was written with rather too much 'padding'.

However when I skipped to parts that I was interested in, the topics were quite enlightening. It certainly highlights the vulnerability and gullibility of 'the public' that is exploited in a scurrilous manner by so much of the commercial and corporate world. I helps to know what tricks they use in order to be a jump ahead of them if any should try such tricks against us. I would say it was useful but in a limited way. Interesting in parts. Perhaps not quite as revolutionary as the old 1960s "How to win friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie but in my opinion it's a modern day upgrade on the ethos contained in that book, but with a lot of the sexism updated to be more politically correct for the 21st Century. It was good value certainly.

A fascinating read, if a bit dry at times. It really makes you think about the marketing that is aimed at you. It makes you question the "great deals" you have got in the past and the ones currently on offer to you (a great money saving device!) It can lead you to feel quite cynical about the way companies (and some individuals) behave. But if you step back a bit, the book gives you the tools to defend yourself with (or approach others with - if you are a marketeer!) and helps you make more informed choices.Some of the samples are so small that statistically the assertions are difficult to back up, but if you put that to one side you can believe the experiments would get results in the stated direction.

Many of the ruses described in this book will be familiar to you. The beauty of this book is how it rationalizes such compliance tactics under a handful of easily digestible principles and introduces you to their unexpected ramifications. While the last third is woolly and some of Prof. Cialdini’s examples will seem foreign to anyone who did not grow up in the United States in the 60s and 70s, the book’s clarity barely suffers for it. I learnt much and enjoyed the read.

Good book but the stories are a bit too much and make it heavy to consume without losing the plot (literally). It feels to me that someone was paid on the number of words rather than the quality of content.

Worth a read or preferably a listen - if you do that try 1.4x speed, it helped me tremendously.

There's a good reason why this is a best-seller ... not only does it contain some interesting and useful info, it's quite an enjoyable read. Usually I can't get through these kinds of book but I happily read this one all the way through.It's useful not only to salespeople but just as much (perhaps even more so) for "victims" of salespeople, as it explains some of the subtle tricks they use to get you to buy whatever it is they're selling. When you can see through their tricky little moves, you're better equipped to defend yourself against them.